Tarjeta Cencosud, one of the most important credit cards in Argentina, wanted to make the financial system more humane. We hacked the formula that determined people’s credit limit and added a new variable to it: generosity. Now donate to an NGO upgrade your credit card limit.

Historically, banks determined credit limits of clients by analyzing their income, capital and risk level. Consequently, the traditional banking analysis of clients favored people with better means.

Thus, we decided to make banking more humane. The decision was groundbreaking. We chose to add one more variable to the way credit limit was determined. . This variable was generosity. So, all a person had to do was donate to an NGO to automatically increase their credit limit. There was no paperwork or other requests and no bureaucracy.. Currently, many of our clients chose to upgrade their credit limit this way.

The results of the campaign came in quickly. As a result, 43% of card holders’ donations enabled the construction of 200 houses a year. Additionally, 99% of clients who received an upgrade on their credit limit, paid the total amount of their balance on time unlike the 78% of clients who didn´t donate.

The platform to upgrade their limit through donations is still online with the chance to open it to any NGO of a person’s choice and not just Techo.

Furthermore, we uplifted the brand´s image and received thousands of messages from existing and potential clients congratulating us.

In South America, there are lots of people who don’t use the Bank System. This makes it difficult for them to get better credit card limits, consequently making it hard for them to buy what they need as well.

We found an innovative solution by adding the variable of generosity to the formula that defines the credit limit of clients.

Every client that donates money to an NGO automatically upgrades their credit limit.

Thanks to this innovation, there was a change in people’s behavior, which was reflected by an increase of on time balance payments.

On March 23, 2017, we changed the formula used to define the credit limit of clients. Also, the platform was launched that day for clients to donate to a NGO and upgrade their credit limit.

Credit limit is based on people’s income, their assets and risk level. In South America, the informal labor rate is high, yet many people can buy more than what their income reflects. Thus, their credit limits are often not reflective of an individual’s financial situation.